Catching up with Ronnie Fields

Ronnie Fields was a high school phenom at Farragut (Chicago) in the mid-90s (and a teammate of Kevin Garnett), apparently destined for sure stardom and a lucrative NBA career. Possessing a 50″ vertical leap tends to do that.

But his NBA dream was derailed: a near-fatal injury from an auto accident, failure to qualify for college, a brush with the law. Bad luck and bad decisions. Sound familiar?

Not so fast: today, at 35 and having played professionally around the world for 15 years — but never in the NBA — Ronnie Fields brings his cautionary tale to kids. He speaks at local high schools and reminds kids that counting on sports as your only path to success is very, very risky.

Dreams are important. Everybody should have dreams, especially young people. But dreams are not a real plan. And you need both.